Four top staffers on U.S. Rep. Phil Gingrey’s Senate campaign quit Monday, a setback for a candidate looking for a foothold in a crowded and still wide-open Republican primary race.
General consultant Chip Lake, campaign manager John Porter, political director David Allen and political adviser Justin Tomczak all departed as part of a personality clash and power tug of war among them, Gingrey, the congressional staff and the candidate’s family, according to several people familiar with the decision.
Also, Gingrey's willingness to take the blame for his own missteps — including but not limited to a leaked comment disparaging his own salary — was called into question.
In public, each side wished the other well, as Gingrey continued to play up his new promise that he would not run for a second Senate term unless the new health care law is repealed.
“I’m deeply grateful and appreciative of their efforts on behalf of my campaign, without which we could not have gotten this far,” Gingrey said in a prepared statement.
“They helped us get up and running and saw us through its first phase, up to my ‘Repeal or Go Home’ pledge. And now as my campaign enters its next phase, I remain committed to my pledge to repeal Obamacare or return home and am energized by the support and encouragement I continue to receive.”
Lake, the former chief of staff to Coweta County Republican U.S. Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, worked on Gingrey’s first race for Congress.
“I have nothing but respect for Phil Gingrey,” he wrote in an email. “We were just at a crossroads and I thought it would be better for both parties to move on. I wish him nothing but the best.”
By day’s end Tuesday, Gingrey had already hired a new general consultant to replace Lake: Cam Savage of Indiana, who previously worked for U.S. Sen. Dan Coats, R-Ind., and the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
Gingrey entered the campaign with the biggest war chest left over from a decade in the House, but his fundraising totals have dropped. He raised $290,000 in the third quarter of this year, placing him about even with U.S. Rep. Paul Broun of Athens and former Secretary of State Karen Handel in the second tier of candidates.
U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston of Savannah pulled in $806,000 and businessman David Perdue put more than $1.1 million of his own money on top of $678,000 in donations.
There are still six months to go before the May 20 Republican primary in the race to replace Republican U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, which almost certainly will be followed by a runoff because no candidate is likely to break 50 percent. A Public Policy Polling sample of Republican primary voters in August found 25 percent for Gingrey, followed by 19 percent for Broun, 15 percent for Kingston and 13 percent for Handel.
Michelle Nunn, the nonprofit CEO and daughter of former Sen. Sam Nunn, is heavily favored in the Democratic primary.
Considering that Gingrey had $2.6 million in his campaign bank account in September and no Republican has seized hold of the race, Atlanta-area Republican political consultant Mike Hassinger — who is unaligned in the Senate race — said Gingrey still has a good shot.
“This sounds like when the rock bands used to break up, they always cited the artistic differences, and everyone wanted to know the real story,” Hassinger said. “Well, sometimes, it’s artistic differences. Sometimes, it’s the direction of the campaign.”
The Gingrey campaign is vowing to press on and still has much of its original team in place, many of whom have worked on statewide races for Gov. Nathan Deal and Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle.
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